Have you ever felt like a circus juggler, keeping multiple tasks in the air at once? If so, you're not alone. We've all been there - frantically bouncing from one task to another and praying nothing drops. It's exhausting and honestly, quite unproductive.
Enter Zapier, the savvy assistant we never knew we needed but can't live without now. Imagine sipping your morning coffee while Zapier automates repetitive tasks behind the scenes. Once you start with Zapier, you'll be fascinated by just how much time you can save. Zapier users report a 40% increase in productivity after implementing automation into their workflows.
In this post, we'll talk about the best Zapier automations, from streamlining communication on Slack to managing data on Google Sheets or even automating social media posts - it does it all with finesse.
Understanding Zapier and Its Automations
In 2024, 85% of businesses are expected to use some form of automation software, with Zapier being one of the most popular choices. Most recognize that repetitive tasks or things with unnecessary steps are frustrating and time-consuming for employees, which is why more companies than ever are looking to make things easier.
When you're juggling a myriad of business operations, automating tasks can be your secret weapon. Enter Zapier, the no-code automation platform that lets users connect apps into automated workflows.
At its core, Zapier operates on 'zaps'. But what exactly is a zap? In essence, it's an automated workflow comprising two key elements - a trigger and one or more actions.
Think of them as cause-and-effect scenarios where specific triggers initiate predefined actions across various software applications.
How Do You Build Zaps?
The real magic lies in how easily these zaps are built. No programming knowledge? No problem. With over 2000 app integrations available at your fingertips, building zaps is as easy as pie.
You can create zaps from a template, or you can use AI. You can save your progress or update it any time in Zapier. Building Zaps on Zapier involves a series of steps to connect your apps and automate your tasks. Here's a step-by-step guide on how to do it:
1. Log In and Start a New Zap
Once you're logged in, click the “Make a Zap” button to start creating a new Zap.
2. Choose a Trigger App & Set Up Your Trigger
A trigger is the event that starts your Zap. Select the app that contains the data or event you want to start your automation. For example, you might choose Gmail for an email-based trigger.
After selecting your trigger app, you need to define the specific trigger. For instance, in Gmail, you might choose “New Email” as the trigger. Connect your account and set the necessary configurations.
3. Test the Trigger
Zapier will prompt you to test the trigger to ensure it’s working correctly. This step is crucial to verify that Zapier can access the data needed from your chosen app.
4. Choose an Action App & Set Up Your Action
Once the trigger is set up, select the action app – the app where your data will go or where an action will be performed. For example, if your trigger is a new email in Gmail, your action might be creating a new task in a project management tool like Trello.
Define what you want to happen in your action app. Configure the necessary fields and settings. Continuing the previous example, you would set up the specifics of the task to be created in Trello.
5. Test the Action
Just like with the trigger, you need to test the action to make sure it works as expected. Zapier will guide you through sending a test to your action app.
6. Name & Turn On Your Zap
Give your Zap a descriptive name and turn it on. Once activated, it will run automatically according to the conditions you’ve set. After your Zap is running, you might want to monitor it for a while to ensure it’s working as expected.
You can make adjustments and tweak settings as needed.
Remember, the exact steps might vary slightly depending on the specific apps and actions you choose. Zapier offers a wide range of integrations, so the possibilities for automation are extensive.
Becoming Fluent in Automation Language
Navigating through this new language of automation might seem daunting initially but trust me, it gets easier once you dive into creating some custom zaps for everyday tasks. And before long, not only will you become fluent in this new lingo but also see significant improvements in productivity.
The 12 Best Zapier Automations
Zapier offers a variety of automations that can streamline everyday tasks and boost productivity. Here are some of the top Zapier automations to consider:
1. Automate Appointment Scheduling and Reminders
Connect your scheduling app, like Calendly, to your CRM and email marketing tool to automatically send appointment reminders to clients and update their contact info in your CRM.
2. Streamline Customer Support Ticket Handling
Link your customer support platform, such as Zendesk, to your team chat app, like Slack, to automatically notify the support team about new tickets, ensuring quicker response and resolution times.
3. Automatically Add New Leads to Your CRM
Use Zapier to automatically add new leads from form submissions, like Facebook lead ads, to your CRM and assign them to the right team member for follow-up using Zaps.
4. Social Media Content Curation
Set up a Zap that searches for relevant content using RSS feeds or keyword searches, then automatically adds them to your social media scheduler, such as Buffer, for sharing. You can automate social posting and drastically cut down on your team's time spent addressing content creation and publication.
5. Consolidate Project Management Updates
Automate the sending of updates from your project management tool, like Trello or Asana, to your team’s communication platform (e.g., Slack) to keep everyone informed about project progress.
6. Trigger Email Campaigns Based on Customer Behavior
Utilize Zapier to trigger targeted email campaigns (using tools like Mailchimp) based on specific customer actions, such as making a purchase or abandoning a shopping cart.
7. Automate Onboarding for New Clients
When a new client is added to your CRM, automatically trigger an onboarding email sequence and create tasks for your team to guide the client through the onboarding process.
8. Remind Your Team After Events
Notify all your team members of important things that happen after a trigger action. For example, maybe you need to notify your onboarding person that someone recently signed a contract and paid their invoice. Or you can let your accounting person receive a notification as soon as a payment is received on PayPal. The possibilities are endless!
Additionally, Zapier integrations can be used for Slack automation, like notifying your team when a lead fills out a form, when a cart gets abandoned, or about upcoming events.
9. Keep Track of New Content
It can also help in video management by importing videos from cloud storage for better video management, notifying your team about new videos, posting videos to social media, and preparing video data for analytics.
10. Consolidate Survey or Form Responses
What good is all the data you collect if you can't easily review it in one place? You can set up Zapier to help aggregate all key form responses so you spend less time reviewing that information once it comes in.
11. Saving Backups
If you try to save a backup of everything one step at a time, this takes precious hours from your schedule. If you set up Zapier to automatically back things up to Google Drive, Dropbox, or somewhere else, you never have to worry about losing access to something you need!
12. Automated Weekly Reports
KPIs are a breeze when you use automated reports. Want to know how many sales calls were completed last week? Or how many of them closed? You can connect Slack to Zapier to send you weekly reports so you can provide instant feedback to your team. Zapier has tons of cool automations just for Slack alone!
Conclusion
Zapier works its magic in various areas - it streamlines communication, makes data management a breeze, boosts sales efforts, enhances customer support and even handles social media posts.
But if you're looking for an even easier way to automate tasks and workflows? Magical is a free Chrome extension you can use to automatically move information between tabs like Zapier, but you don't need to be an IT person or a coder to set it up.
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